A Ghostly Wife

Once on a time there lived a Brahman who had married a wife, and who

lived in the same house with his mother. Near his house was a tank,

on the embankment of which stood a tree, on the boughs of which lived

a ghost of the kind called Sankchinni. [30] One night the Brahman's

wife had occasion to go to the tank, and as she went she brushed by a

Sankchinni who stood near; on which the she-ghost got very angry with

the woman, seized her by the throat, climbed into her tree, and thrust

her into a hole in the trunk. There the woman lay almost dead with

fear. The ghost put on the clothes of the woman and went into the house

of the Brahman. Neither the Brahman nor his mother had any inkling

of the change. The Brahman thought his wife returned from the tank,

and the mother thought that it was her daughter-in-law. Next morning

the mother-in-law discovered some change in her daughter-in-law. Her

daughter-in-law, she knew, was constitutionally weak and languid, and

took a long time to do the work of the house. But she had apparently

become quite a different person. All of a sudden she had become very

active. She now did the work of the house in an incredibly short

time. Suspecting nothing, the old woman said nothing either to her

son or to her daughter-in-law; on the contrary, she inly rejoiced

that her daughter-in-law had turned over a new leaf. But her surprise

became every day greater and greater. The cooking of the household

was done in much less time than before. When the mother-in-law

wanted the daughter-in-law to bring anything from the next room, it

was brought in much less time than was required in walking from one

room to the other. The ghost, instead of going inside the next room,

would stretch a long arm--for ghosts can lengthen or shorten any

limb of their bodies--from the door and get the thing. One day the

old woman observed the ghost doing this. She ordered her to bring a

vessel from some distance, and the ghost unconsciously stretched her

hand to several yards' distance, and brought it in a trice. The old

woman was struck with wonder at the sight. She said nothing to her,

but spoke to her son. Both mother and son began to watch the ghost

more narrowly. One day the old woman knew that there was no fire in

the house, and she knew also that her daughter-in-law had not gone

out of doors to get it; and yet, strange to say, the hearth in the

kitchen-room was quite in a blaze. She went in, and, to her infinite

surprise, found that her daughter-in-law was not using any fuel for

cooking, but had thrust into the oven her foot, which was blazing

brightly. The old mother told her son what she had seen, and they both

concluded that the young woman in the house was not his real wife but

a she-ghost. The son witnessed those very acts of the ghost which his

mother had seen. An Ojha [31] was therefore sent for. The exorcist

came, and wanted in the first instance to ascertain whether the woman

was a real woman or a ghost. For this purpose he lighted a piece of

turmeric and set it below the nose of the supposed woman. Now this

was an infallible test, as no ghost, whether male or female, can put

up with the smell of burnt turmeric. The moment the lighted turmeric

was taken near her, she screamed aloud and ran away from the room. It

was now plain that she was either a ghost or a woman possessed by a

ghost. The woman was caught hold of by main force and asked who she

was. At first she refused to make any disclosures, on which the Ojha

took up his slippers and began belabouring her with them. Then the

ghost said with a strong nasal accent--for all ghosts speak through

the nose--that she was a Sankchinni, that she lived on a tree by the

side of the tank, that she had seized the young Brahmani and put her

in the hollow of her tree because one night she had touched her, and

that if any person went to the hole the woman would be found. The

woman was brought from the tree almost dead; the ghost was again

shoebeaten, after which process, on her declaring solemnly that she

would not again do any harm to the Brahman and his family, she was

released from the spell of the Ojha and sent away; and the wife of

the Brahman recovered slowly. After which the Brahman and his wife

lived many years happily together and begat many sons and daughters.

Here my story endeth,

The Natiya-thorn withereth, etc.

1 Sankchinnis or Sankhachurnis are female ghosts of white complexion. They usually stand at the dead of night at the foot of trees, and look like sheets of white cloth.

2 An exorcist, one who drives away ghosts from possessed persons.